A personal chef invoice is a professional billing document used by personal and private chefs to formally request payment by means of cash, credit card, or check for services that were provided in the client’s home or specifically requested location. Personal chefs are often entrusted with purchasing groceries, cooking a variety of meals, and cleaning the kitchen and dishes after meals have been served.

Table of Contents

• What is a Personal Chef?
• Personal & Private Chef Salary & Hourly Rates

What is a Personal Chef?

A personal chef is responsible for providing fully cooked meals to clients of all types – in the comfort of their own home or yacht. Personal and private chefs can be hired by families for a few meals a month, or can be hired to provide a complete cooking experience for a family, providing all their meals. Due to the similarity of the job titles, personal and private chefs are often meddled together under the same definition. However, there is a notable difference between the two:

Personal chefs are those that have multiple clients, work their own hours, and are self-employed. Essentially, those that are personal chefs offer cooking services that anyone can hire. Personal chefs often have an understanding of business and how to market themselves to potential clients. Due to being their own boss, the earning potential is (typically) higher than those that are private chefs, with the drawback being they do not have a guaranteed salary.

Private chefs, on the other hand, are salaried “employees” of the families or individuals that hire them. They often are given a room to live in on the home or yacht and are expected to be “on-call” to cook or prep a meal any time their employer requests it. The life of a private chef is heavily tied to the lives of those they cook for; becoming closely antiquated with the family, traveling on their yachts, private jets, and having access to multi-million dollar properties is not uncommon for chefs that work with celebrities and the ultra-rich. Apart from the differences in the way they are employed, both personal and private chefs are often highly skilled, culinary experts that often come from a combination of both formal culinary education and experience.

Personal & Private Chef Salary & Hourly Rates ($/hr)

The average yearly salaries and hourly rates for both private and personal chefs are highly variable due to the differing preferences in employers and the freedom personal chefs have in setting their own rates. Furthermore, the rates personal chefs charge are often highly influenced based upon the demography where they are employed, their credentials, and the number of clients they cook for. However, having factored in the above points, the average salary and hourly rates for both private and personal chefs are the following:

Private Chef

• Salary: $41,240/yr
• Hourly Rate: $19.83/hr

(Source: United States Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Personal Chef:

• Salary: $51,577/yr
• Hourly Rate: $20.61/hr

(Source: PayScale)